of
1,100,000,000 roubles. The Porte afterwards declared that it signed this
treaty under persistent pressure from the Grand Duke Nicholas and
General Ignatieff, who again and again declared that otherwise the
Russians would advance on the capital[162].

[Footnote 162: For the text of the treaty see Parl. Papers, Turkey, No.
22 (1878); also _The European Concert in the Eastern Question_ by T.E.
Holland, pp. 335-348.]

At once, from all parts of the Balkan Peninsula, there arose a chorus of
protests against the Treaty of San Stefano. The Mohammedans of the
proposed State of Bulgaria protested against subjection to their former
helots. The Greeks saw in the treaty the death-blow to their hopes of
gaining the northern coasts of the Aegean and a large part of Central
Macedonia. They fulminated against the Bulgarians as ignorant peasants,
whose cause had been taken up recently by Russia for her own
aggrandisement[163]. The Servians were equally indignant. They claimed,
and with justice, that their efforts against the Turks should be
rewarded by an increase of territory which would unite to them their
kinsfolk in Macedonia and part of Bosnia, and place them on an equality
with the upstart State of Bulgaria. Whereas the treaty assigned to these
proteges of Russia districts inhabited solely by Servians, thereby
barring the way to any extension of that Principality.

[Footnote 163: Parl. Papers, Turkey, No. 31 (1878), Nos. 6-17, and
enclosures; _L'Hellenisme et la Macedonie_, by N. Kasasis (Paris, 1904);
L. Sergeant, _op. cit._ ch. xii.]

Still more urgent was the protest of the Roumanian Government. In return
for the priceless services rendered by his troops at Plevna, Prince
Charles and his Ministers were kept in the dark as to the terms arranged
between Russia and Turkey. The Czar sent General Ignatieff to prepare
the Prince for the news, and sought to mollify him by the hint that he
might become also Prince of Bulgaria--a suggestion which was scornfully
waved aside. The Government at Bukharest first learnt the full truth as
to the Bessarabia-Dobrudscha exchange from the columns of the _Journal
du St. Petersbourg_, which proved that the much-prized Bessarabian
territory was to be bargained away by the Power which had solemnly
undertaken to uphold the integrity of the Principality. The Prince, the
Cabinet, and the people unanimously inveighed against this proposal. On
Feb. 4 the Roumanian Chamber of Deputies declared that